Literary Events

Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize
Submission window: Dec. 1, 2025 – Jan. 30, 2026

The Great Smokies Writing Program is proud to administer the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize, sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network.

This prize awards $1,000 and publication in The Thomas Wolfe Review to a piece of short fiction under 3,000 words. Karen Tucker will judge this year’s contest.

Karen Tucker is the author of the novel Bewilderness, which was selected as an Indie Next Pick, longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize, shortlisted for the Crook’s Corner Book Prize, and chosen as a “Dazzling Debut” by the American Booksellers Association. Her short fiction can be found in The Yale Review, The Missouri Review, Boulevard, EPOCH, and Tin House, among other places. Her essays and interviews can be found in Electric Literature, The Millions, The Rumpus, Hazlitt, Southern Review of Books, and elsewhere. She teaches creative writing at UNC Chapel Hill.

The contest is named for Asheville novelist Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938). His Look Homeward, Angel is considered one of the most important coming-of-age novels in the English language. Wolfe was considered at the time of his death to be the greatest talent North Carolina had given to American literature. His novels and collected short stories go beyond autobiography, trying to, in William Faulkner’s words, “put all the experience of the human heart on the head of a pin.” His intense poetic language and thoughtfully developed symbology, combined with his uncanny ability to enter the minds of his other characters and give them powerful voices, elevate the books from memoir to undeniable literary art.

Learn More